Right Here, Right Now
by NoOtherPlaceIdRatherBe
Summary: When your world slowly falls apart, what better place to be than right here, right now.
1. This Could Be The Start

The brunette sighed as she tapped her nail on the desk, glancing quickly at the watch on the thin band around her wrist. Even though she knew it would tell her that the person she was meeting for an interview was more than 20 minutes late, it still caused a twinge of irritation.

Tapping her nail harder as if that would make the time go by faster, she mentally reviewed her questions for the interview. Sports was a new beat for her, but she supposed dating a Quidditch captain made her a prime candidate for the topic. Her mind wandered as she kept tapping, until she felt her nail give a little more than it should.

"Damn it," she muttered, examining the now broken nail. Her roommate had just done them for her on the night they got back to school, so of course one would decide to break right before an interview. Grabbing her wand from near her elbow the girl prodded at the nail, trying to think of a charm that would help repair it, or at least smooth out the now jagged edge of her French tip.

"I can see you're really dedicated to this interview."

Bryony mentally cursed as she heard the drawl of Marcus Flint, but smoothed her face over with a smile as he walked toward the table in a study room of the library.

"Marcus, good to see you. Nice summer?"

The Slytherin Quidditch captain snorted as he took a seat. "Let's be real Clarke, neither of us want to be here, so let's not waste our time on pleasantries."

 _What a great way to start the season,_ Bryony thought, trying not to roll her eyes as she got down to business anyway, quickly setting up her annotation quill.

"Marcus Flint, Slytherin Quidditch captain for a third year, Chaser and currently in his eighth year of school." He rolled his eyes but didn't comment as her electric blue eyes tracked the quill, making sure the recording spell was working properly, before turning to the man across from her. "So, last year, the Slytherin team came out with new brooms and a new Seeker, but only got to play Gryffindor during the actual season, when you came home with a loss. What's your plan as you take the field with a still relatively inexperienced team this year?"

"That's utter tosh and you know it," Flint said, leaning forward instantly. "We outplayed that team for every inch of that game and shouldn't have lost. If we would have been able to actually play, we would've flattened all the teams."

"What do you mean you shouldn't have loss?"

His nostrils flared out a bit at Bryony's question which made her smother a smile. "Draco should have seen that damn snitch! It was floating right above his head. Us Chasers were destroying them and had it in the bag."

"Is that something you would chalk up to inexperience of players or lack of experience as a team, since you did swap out your Seeker just weeks before the game?"

"There were some logistical changes made, but that didn't hurt us as a team. It made us better."

She nodded, narrowing her eyes the slightest bit. "So with Draco injured and possibly out for most of the season, what are the plans for the team? Will you be having another tryout before your match with Gryffindor?"

"We will not be having another tryout."

"Meaning the other members of the house won't have a chance to make their case for the team?"

When they walked out of the room almost half an hour later, she could see Flint's shoulders were still tense from her questioning, but she finally let her smile slip out as she hiked her bag on her shoulder and started making her way toward the TowerTimes newsroom.

The witch ran through the interview in her mind as she wandered up the stairs of the Astronomy Tower until she was one level down from the top. She trailed her fingers along a line of constellations that was carved into the wall so subtly that if you didn't know it was there, you might miss it, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

Bryony pulled out her wand and tapped out her own personal pattern of the constellations which granted her access to the newsroom: Capricorn for her birthday, Corvus, associated with a raven due to her being a Ravenclaw, and then her personal favorite, Monoceros, which represented the unicorn. The wall separated a moment later, letting her in to the room which was already buzzing as the staff worked to get out their first edition of the year less than a week after classes started.

TowerTimes published on Wednesdays and Sundays every week during the school year, and just on Wednesdays if enough staff stayed at the castle over the holidays. In its third year, the paper had a decent readership among students and staff. Adding a sports section was one of the ways they planned to up readership, and Bryony had been one of the staff members assigned to the beat.

She made her way back to the newly designated sports section to start building her story, smiling at Henry Brown, the Gryffindor seventh year who was already seated at the shared desk. To ensure fairness, the girl was going to cover Slytherin and Gryffindor teams throughout the year while Henry tackled Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. The blond ruffled his hair as he flipped through his notes, his eyebrows scrunched together in concentration.

"Your boyfriend has a good head on his shoulders for Quidditch, but wasn't much in the way of quotes," the Scot informed her as she dropped her school bag at her feet, sliding in to her own side of the desk. "Lots of plans, but I'm not sure any of these are actual sentences."

Laughing lightly, Bryony reached down to grab her notes out of her bag. "Want to trade? I got to talk to Flint today."

As the two traded notes, the brunette grew slightly uncomfortable. While she had honed her skills as a reporter over the past two years on the staff and knew she was a strong writer, Henry's father worked on staff at Seeker Weekly and he knew the sport inside and out. His notes, although they were a bit disjointed which was fitting for Cedric, had annotations on them already on ways to start the story and notes of previous games to pull up records for from the library.

"Quick recommendation?"

Bryony looked up, and smiled slightly sheepishly at him. "I'm all ears."

Henry ran through her notes with her in the same way he had put his together, underlining the key parts and using different color inks to highlight the parts from the interview that would mean the most to an avid sports fan who would read the story. When she sat back with the parchment in her hands, a rough draft of a story was already spinning in her mind, so she pulled out a new piece and started to work.

"When is your interview with Roger?" she asked after building a couple paragraphs.

"Tonight. And you have Wood on Tuesday?" Bryony nodded as she kept writing. "That'll be a tight turn, but shouldn't be too bad. Thankfully Wood's a pretty bright bloke."

"Would you believe he hasn't said two words to me in all four years we've been at school together?"

"Considering you're fraternizing with the enemy, it isn't that surprising."

Grinning as she fiddled with the necklace Cedric had given her for their two year anniversary, the brunette dropped a period at the end of her final sentence. "Or it has something to do with the fact he doesn't know I exist."

"You're off your head if you believe that. It's pretty hard not to notice you around the halls."

Bryony tossed him an eye roll over her shoulder as she took her parchment over to the copy editing desk and dropped it into the bin. She then meandered her way back to the sports desk, looking up at the calendar hanging over them and sighing mentally. On top of her prefect duties, they were supposed to meet with the captains of their assigned teams at least once every other week to catch up on practice and actually attend practice at least once a week. They had to coordinate photographers to capture art for their stories, the schedules of the players so they can get interviews for monthly wraps and previews, game recaps and standing reports the editors wanted in every issue….

"I'm screwed," she murmured, dropping back down into her chair.

Henry grinned and tossed a spare bit of parchment at her. "At least you're getting some action."

Bryony let her jaw drop in pretend offense and tossed the parchment back before they both started laughing, the brunette relaxing into her seat as she studied the schedule.

Sports reporting, new prefect duties, a boyfriend who was a first-time Quidditch captain with new prefect duties himself plus having time to eat, shower and study with O.W.L.s coming up at the end of the year… Fifth year was already shaping up to be exhausting.

Despite the cheerful thoughts, she reached into her bag to pull out her Runes book and dive into the homework Babbling had assigned on the first day of class.

 **A/N: Hello, and welcome to my first story on Fanfiction! I know it may not be what you were expecting when you opened it, but I'd strongly encourage you to keep reading. Everything will be explained in time, so hopefully you can sit back and enjoy the ride. Also, feel free to message me if you have any questions!**


	2. Catch My Breath

Bryony slipped into her room through just a crack in the portrait, trying to let as little light in from the hallway as possible. She heard one of her roommates sigh and roll over and held her breath for a moment, but the room stilled again.

The brunette started scraping her sheets of hair back as she walked over to her bed, mindful of the ever-growing pile of clothes practically in the middle of the room. She grabbed her pajamas from her trunk and padded to the bathroom, hopeful not to disturb any of the girls any further.

As she combed through her hair, the young witch smiled to herself softly. It had only been her first night of patrol, and Cedric had surprised her by switching to take the watch with her. The two had _mostly_ stayed focus, but it was nice to have a night with him after only having time to really sit down and talk once since classes had begun. She removed her makeup, washed her face and brushed her teeth before making her way back into the dormitory and finally settling into bed for what was sure to be too short of a night.

Just as she had predicted, a pillow slammed into her face after what only seemed like minutes, and Bryony sat up in shock.

"That's for waking me up when you came in last night," Becky said, jokingly smacking her best friend again.

"Don't blame me, blame the powers that decided to make me a Prefect," Bryony laughed back, grabbing her pillow and fighting back. "I was as quiet as I could have been."

"Also a little later than you should have been if you were just doing patrols," Yutaka said as she walked out of the bathroom, pulling a brush through her short hair. "We take it you got paired with Cedric last night?"

The brunette tried not to groan as she fell back into her bed, but found a grin fighting its way onto her face instead.

"I'll take that as a yes," her roommate teased before heading back into the bathroom.

Becky Arncliffe laid down next to the brunette, shoving her over to have more room on the bed. "Are you sure you have time to study with us? You kind of already seemed like you're drained."

"Is that your way of telling me I look like death?"

"At least I said kind of."

The two started giggling again as Joan Kerridge and Yutaka Amano walked out of the bathroom together, both rolling their eyes at the girls with small smiles.

"Get up, psychos," Joan said, throwing a stray shoe that had ended up near her bed at them. The American had transferred to Hogwarts in her second year, and tended to be the peacekeeper in the dorm. "Breakfast starts in 15."

The two girls waved as they walked out of the portrait, leaving the other two laying on the bed.

"Did she say breakfast starts in 15 minutes?" Bryony asked a moment later.

"Yeah."

"Damn."

The brunette scrambled up from the bed, grabbing a fresh uniform and starting to get undressed before she even made it across the room to the bathroom.

"What's the issue? Breakfast lasts an hour, and then you have free period. It's Tuesday."

"Exactly," she called back, pulling her shirt on but leaving it unbuttoned as she searched for her makeup bag. "I have to interview Oliver Wood today and turn that story during my free period for it to make print tomorrow."

Becky snorted. "I repeat: do you have time to study with us?"

The witch rolled her eyes but grinned as she quickly finished getting ready, stopping to grab her wand, watch, bag and best friend before starting to wind their way down to the Great Hall.

When she spotted a familiar mess of dark hair by the entrance, she broke off from the blond with a grin, immediately allowing Cedric to pull her to him for a kiss.

"Hey handsome," she said, snuggling into his chest.

"Good morning, gorgeous. Good sleep?"

"Not nearly enough of it. Can we go back to summer?"

He laughed lightly by her ear, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "If only. Then I would have you around all the time."

Bryony gave herself a moment longer to be wrapped up in her boyfriend before pulling away, kissing him again. "Dinner tonight?"

"Can't. We're starting Quidditch practice. Breakfast tomorrow?"

"It's my turn to oversee printing. What about lunch?"

"Tutoring for Charms." He groaned. "Now I really wish it was summer again."

"We'll figure it out," she promised, allowing him to give her one last kiss before breaking away from him and making her way into the Great Hall.

She scanned the tables as Cedric brushed past her, gently running his hand along her back and making her smile. A moment later, her eyes locked on to a close-cut brown head of hair that was bent over a very thick book, which she could only assume was his playbook. Bryony smiled to herself again before making her way down the Gryffindor table and laying her books down across from him.

"Oliver?" He glanced up, smiling reflexively at the girl. "Hi, I'm Bryony with the TowerTimes."

"Of course, pleasure," Oliver said, standing up to shake her hand before gesturing at the seat across from him. They took a moment to settle in before an awkward pause settled in. "Sorry, I have no idea how to do this," he said almost immediately, running a hand over his hair.

She smiled at him, reaching out to pour herself a cup of coffee. "Don't know how to have breakfast?"

He laughed lightly, picking at the corner of his playbook. "Actually talk about Quidditch to anyone other than my team."

"Why does it have to feel any different?" She poured some cream into her cup, and stirred it slowly, looking up to meet his glance. "For all intents and purposes, I'm your personal stalker for the rest of the season. Just consider me part of the team."

Oliver's surprised laugh made her grin as she lifted her cup and took a sip, taking in the seventh year sitting across from her. "We'll have to get you a jersey."

"I'm going for a full set this year."

She watched his eyes trail over to the Hufflepuff table on the other side of the room, and took the moment to grab her annotation quill and some parchment out of her bag.

"So whatever I say about the team, or any of us say about the team, it's all between us, right?"

Bryony blinked in surprise, sitting back up. "Of course, Oliver. I know I just work for a school paper, but I want to do this after I graduate, too. If I go around running my mouth, that won't only hurt my reputation when I try to get a job, it'll get me kicked off the paper here. Besides," she said, shrugging slightly, "I'd like to think I'm a better person than that as well." The brown eyes across from her blinked a few times as she set up her quill. When she looked back up, he was still studying her. "You can trust me."

The Scot nodded after a moment, a small smile pulling at his lips. "Apologies. You have to understand. We have to win this year. It's my last year, and I'm going to do everything in my power to make it happen."

"Then I look forward to working with your this year," Bryony said with a small smile back, before turning to address the quill. "Oliver Wood, Gryffindor Quidditch captain for a fourth year, Chaser and currently in his seventh year of school." His eyes watched the quill dart across the paper instead of meeting hers, so she waited until he flipped his attention back before saying, "everything else from here on out is on the record. You ready?"

With his nod, she glanced at the bullet points she had scribbled on the parchment. "You've built a team with a lot of experience and passionate players, including most famously Harry Potter. Why do you believe your team has missed out on the championship over the past few years?"

The pair had been talking for almost half an hour when a body was suddenly at her side, with an arm reaching straight between her and Oliver. Bryony jumped a bit as another body appeared next to the Scot as well, grinning at her.

"Sorry, love, you'll have to forgive George. He was raised in a barn."

"We were raised together!" the person sitting next to her said, throwing the half bitten piece of toast he had apparently grabbed at his identical image. "And at least I slept in the hay loft. You were left with the goats."

"Bryony, Fred and George Weasley," Oliver said with a mix of amusement and frustration in his voice. "My very own walking pair of bludgers."

"How appropriate," she said with a grin. "I'm also familiar. We're in the same year."

"Now Olly dear, we're sorry to butt in on your breakfast date but there seems to be a slight issue with the training schedule for this year," the twin sitting next to his captain chimed in plowing straight over the conversation.

"I'm in the middle of something."

"Yes, of course," the one next to her added, "and we'll allow you to get back to your lovely lady over here in a moment, but there is an issue."

Oliver shot her an apologetic look before nodding slightly for the twin on her side of the table to continue.

"Now you see, we noticed that we have practice three days a week."

"At early hours of the morning."

"We were wondering if it would be possible to not do that?"

"And do what instead?"

Bryony's eyebrows were slowly floating up onto her forehead as she wanted the conversation happen, her eyes finally landing on Oliver with the question.

"Practice two days a week."

"Tuesday and Thursday, about half an hour after dinner."

"Don't want anyone getting sick," the twin across the table added, tossing her a wink.

"No."

"But Oliver-"

"I said no." She was surprised by the firmness in his voice. Oliver had mainly seemed to be humoring the twins up to that point, but was leaving no room for discussion. "I change the schedule, and it gets in the way of Gobstones Club or Charms Club or your detentions," he said, glancing between both of them. "I want to make sure we're ready. Practice starts next week. I expect the entire team to be there."

"Ah, we tried," the twin sitting next to her said with a small shrug, grinning at his brother before turning to her. "Now, for the real reason for being down here, what's your name and why are you having breakfast with Olly dearest over here?"

The Scot started to sputter from across the table, but she just grinned and leaned a bit closer to the twin. "What would the information be worth to you?"

"Sorry, come again?"

Bryony shrugged slightly. "I'm not just going to give you gossip to use against your captain without knowing what I can get out of it."

He seemed to think about it for a moment, leaning back and glancing over to his twin. "We'll have to get back to you on that."

"Then it was lovely talking to you boys, but I have work to do." She stood up and started gathering her things, tucking the parchment and quill away before draining her coffee. "Same time week after next, Oliver?"

He nodded at her, slightly flushed, and she waved to the twins before making her way out of the Great Hall and up to the Astronomy Tower. The brunette had some time before her next class, so she gave herself a short break once she got into the newsroom, nodding to the two copy editors who were on the desk before plopping down in her chair.

After a few minutes of simply sitting there with her eyes closed, Bryony reached into her bag and pulled out her schedule. Cedric's father Sophia had purchased from the Muggle village nearby after both of them had been named prefects. It was overwhelming to look at her entire life laid out for the month, but at the same time, the brunette wasn't sure how she would get through the year without it. She flipped to the marker for the week, sighing as she grabbed a quill from her desk and dipped it in the inkpot nearby before drawing a line through her note of "Oliver – breakfast" that was at the very top of her list. She still had to write her story, go to Defense, eat lunch and then she had double potions.

"Bryony?"

She turned to Jamie, one of the copy editors she had spotted on her way in, surprised to see it was just the two of them left. "What's up?"

"Can you get that done before lunch? I'm the only one on the desk tonight and Amy wants to get the layout done before Astronomy."

"I'll definitely have it done before the end of lunch," she said, guilty creeping in to her voice.

Jamie nodded. "I'll grab something from the kitchens for us for lunch then." He waved at her on his way out after that, leaving her alone in the newsroom. The brunette took a deep breath and twisted her sheets of hair into a ballerina bun before getting to work.


	3. Work, Work, Work

"Did I tell you guys I had a run-in with the Weasley twins?" Bryony said, pulling the cherry-flavored sugar quill from her mouth.

"Why would you bother?" Roger snorted, reaching over to grab her Arithmancy notes. "We've seen them in classes for the past four years and they've never bothered to actually acknowledge any of us."

"Probably because you're a prick," Marcus chimed in from his position on his bed. "And because you two compete in Quidditch."

"We'll they're probably afraid you'll give them detention for life if they ever so much as talk to you," Roger snapped back, making Bryony roll her eyes and swat his arm.

"Back to the point, please?" Yutaka said, looking up from her notes. "The dreamy Weasley twins?"

"Dreamy was not included in the original statement," the brunette clarified, but her roommate just shrugged it off. "But no, I was interviewing Oliver for the paper a few days ago and the twins entirely crashed it."

"That sounds about right," Roger murmured, comparing something from her notes to his.

"I don't think they had any idea who I was."

"That also sounds about right," Todd added from behind her.

During their first year, before the TowerTimes, Quidditch and dating had become major influences in their lives, the group of Ravenclaws who had started school with Bryony got together every weekend and exchanged notes from the week, helped each other with research and tutored anyone who was struggling in any subject. Overtime, life started getting in the way and the group grew apart, so they called it quits on weekends and changed to one night a week before they headed to Astronomy class. The nine students would get together in the boy's dorm room and all notes, resources and candy was fair game until they had to head up to class.

"I don't think they're bad people," Joan chimed in, pulling her lollipop out of her mouth. "I think they're just focused on a very tight group and probably didn't recognize you."

"Or maybe they're just the pricks," Adam said with a sigh, prodding the book he was supposed to be doubling. "Can we just forget about it and have someone help me with this spell?"

Bryony smiled slightly and slid off the bed, swatting Todd's groan of protest away. Her strength were Transfiguration and Arithmancy, so it generally fell to her to help with those subjects.

Becky was also working on the same homework assignment and scooted over to make room between the two of them where the brunette could settle in to help.

As the clock inched closer to 11, the group started to pack up and trade snacks until next week. The girls ran up to their dorm to drop their unnecessary books before meeting back up in the common room and trailing out.

Before they were even out of the tower where the Ravenclaw common room was hidden, a voice called from behind them, "And where do you think you're going?"

"Stand down, we have Astronomy," Marcus called. He pulled out his Prefect badge, prompting Bryony to do the same, before the other person rounded the corner and he rolled his eyes, tucking it back away. "Bry, I think you can handle this one."

Her eyebrows pulled together slightly as she took a couple more steps down, smiling when she saw Cedric waiting by the statue off to the side of the winding staircase.

"Don't be late for class," Becky said, prodding her best friend before the group continued on their way with just a few cat calls from the guys.

"Hi you," the brunette said, pulling her boyfriend's lips to hers and knotting her fingers in the slight curls that were starting to form at the base of his neck. "Your hair is getting long."

"Our first actual time alone all semester and you decide to talk about my hair?"

"Good point." She pulled his lips back down to her, feeling his smile as they pressed their bodies together in a familiar rhythm.

All too soon, as usual, she pulled away. "Class."

"Skip."

"Can't."

"Goodie-goodie."

"Bad influence."

"I won't argue with that one."

She laughed before kissing him again, pressing herself against him as much as she could. "Do you think we could sneak me in to your dorm room this weekend? I just have Slytherin practice and my story during the day, and I don't have patrol until next weekend."

"I think we can make something work," he said, brushing back her hair. "Even if we can't get you in, we should take the day, just the two of us."

"I love you," she said softly, squeezing his hand.

"Love you, too," Cedric said, dropping another kiss on the top of her head before she hurried away, rushing down the stairs and taking the familiar path up to the tower.

When her alarm went off the next morning, she almost threw the watch that was charmed to vibrate across the room. The turnaround from Astronomy class to Gryffindor's practice on Friday mornings was definitely going to be the thing that killed her during the semester.

She pulled herself out of bed, trying to be mindful of her roommates as she padded to the bathroom. The girl scrubbed her face to try and wake up a bit before just putting on her base makeup. She considered putting on her uniform before going to practice, but decided better of it, thinking she could grab a shower during her free period after breakfast. Instead, she pulled on her jeans, a pair of combat boots and a grey boyfriend t-shirt before heading out the door, only pausing a moment to grab a tan leather biker jacket as an afterthought. Bryony knew she had left her bag in the common room the night before, so she slung it over her shoulder, smothering another yawn as she made her way down to the entrance hall.

She was pulling on the jacket, grateful she had thought to actually bring it, when she spotted her photographer waiting for her, almost falling asleep again the well. The brunette grinned, squeezing Tristan's arm when she got close enough, giggling when he jumped and knocked his glasses askew. The Gryffindor smiled down at her, his dimples in full force as he adjusted his glasses before scratching the back of his head.

"Long time, no assignment," he teased, knocking her arm.

"No kidding," she agreed, wrapping her arms around the one he offered as the pair started making their way out to the Quidditch field. "I didn't know I was going to get to work with you even though I'm not working on news anymore."

"Not many people wanted this shift due to the crazy hours you guys need crews. I figured Oliver wakes me up when he leaves for practice anyway, so I might as well be useful about it."

The brunette smiled and squeezed her friend's arm as they continued their path. The sun was just starting to come up, so it made sense why most people would rather be in bed asleep. But Tristan and Bryony were actually both part of the group that had helped found the TowerTimes, and she had always looked up to the aspiring photojournalist for his dedication to the trade.

She remembered in her second year, before she starting dating Cedric, she actually had a crush on Tristan. She would spot him during meals and try to grab a glimpse of him in the hallways, the way most 12 year olds do when they have a crush on an older boy. He had been standing on a table in the Great Hall one Tuesday morning, trying to get people to listen so they could take their idea about a school paper to Professor Dumbledore. They had a group of about 10 people, but were looking for another 10 to be close to fully staffed before proposing it. Bryony had stepped up without a second thought, and she remembered turning bright red when he had grinned at her for the first time.

From there, the group went to Professor Dumbledore, who referred them to Professor Vector to lead the paper. She had helped them transform the unused classroom in the Astronomy tower for their use, get an old printing press from the Daily Prophet and start finding news to cover at the school. Bryony couldn't imagine most of her past three years without the paper, and part of her still held that 12-year-old hero-worship crush on Tristan for getting her involved, but mostly he had become one of her best friends and her most-requested photographer.

When they got out to the field, the brunette noticed she could hear Oliver's voice floating out from the changing rooms, so she pulled her blonde friend over to them, making their way through the open door back to the co-ed part of the room. They spotted the Scot pacing in front of a bench of six people, and he subtly nodded to them as he continued on with his speech.

"But we also know we've got the _best – ruddy – team – in – the – school,"_ he said, punching his fist into his hand, obviously not derailed by the appearance of the two. Bryony scrambled to pull out some parchment and a quill, foregoing her annotations one to actually be able to make notes as she went. "We've got three superb Chasers, we're got two unbeatable Beaters."

"Stop it, Oliver, you're embarrassing us," the Weasley twins said together, bringing a smile to the witch's face.

"And we've got a Seeker who has never failed to win us a match!" There was a beat after his statement, which made her glance up from the notes to see an intense look on the captain's face, which only broke for a moment. "And me."

"We think you've very good too, Oliver," one of the twins jumped in quickly.

"Spanking good Keeper."

"The point is, the Quidditch Cup should have had our name on it these last two years. Ever since Harry joined the team, I've thought this thing was in the bag. But we haven't got it, and this year's the last chance we'll get to finally see our name on the thing."

The dejected tone in his voice made the two journalists glance at each other, partly in surprise and partly in sympathy. Oliver's team seemed to feel the same way, as one of the twins jumped in immediately, saying, "Oliver, this year's our year."

A couple of the others chimed in positively, making some the desperation on his face lighten up a bit. He nodded toward her again the back of the room, redirecting the attention her way. "This year, as some of you guys have already seen, there's also a sports section in our student paper. Bryony will be at practice once a week, plus she'll be meeting with me about once every other week to get updates on the direction I see the team going. She'll also need to work out times to speak to us as a group, and she'll be looking for comments after games, so stick around after your shower. Feel free to chat with her about a practice or an upcoming game, but if you don't want her to report on something, it's best to leave it unsaid."

The brunette waved as six pairs of eyes took the two of them in. "I'm sure you guys are more familiar with him, but Tristan is also here as my photographer. He won't always be around, but don't be surprised to spot him."

"Aren't you dating Cedric Diggory?" One of the girls, who she believed was Angela, said.

"I am, but I hope you guys know that I'll keep my work separate from my personal life. Anything that comes up in practice or interviews, if it's something that you guys don't want publicized, it won't be. Pending a huge story, of course."

The team seemed to accept this and turned back around to Oliver, who nodded once. "Alright, let's get this season started."

As the players filed out in front of her, the twins stopped, looking her up and down.

"So you're not dating Oliver."

Tristan glanced at her in confusion, pulling the camera down from the shots he was taking of the team. "Come again?"

Bryony laughed, waving her hand at him. "No, unfortunately, it was not a romantic breakfast you guys crashed the other day. I assumed you had figured as much though."

"Trust us, we had," one of them said, glancing at his twin.

"We just didn't know you were going to be stalking us all year."

"You would think one Quidditch player would be enough for a girl."

Bryony grinned again, tucking away her parchment as she moved to follow Tristan and the rest of the team out to the field. "A girl can never have enough company."

"I'm Fred, by the way," the twin who ended up on her left told her.

"George," the other one said, sticking a hand out for her to shake.

"Charmed," she said, shaking his hand before reaching over to shake Fred's. "Any pro tips on telling the two of you apart?"

"Now, don't get presumptuous!" George said with a laugh, mounting his broom to join in warm ups.

"We never reveal our secrets," Fred said, winking at her before taking off as well.

After waiting for them to get out of ear shot, she looked over at her friend who was busy snapping away as the group tossed the Quaffle around, with one of the girls tossing it to a twin once he got within reach. "Is all season going to be like this?"

"It'll probably be even more fun in a few months." He paused to take another snap, before grinning at her again. "Oliver will get crazier about Quidditch, the twins will be stirring up all kinds of trouble and something always seems to go wrong in Harry's life. I'm sure it'll be an interesting season for you."

"And it's not even just them," she murmured, making her way over to a staircase to grab a seat in the stands. "I still get to deal with Slytherin."

"Yeah, no chance in hell I'll be at their practice tomorrow."

She snorted. "Thank for the support."

"Always here for you."


	4. Falling Even More In Love With You

Bryony made her way back to the Ravenclaw common room after the Slytherin practice on Saturday in a much worse mood than she had been in after the Gryffindor practice, even though it had been at a much more reasonable time. First off all, her photographer Jake, a Hufflepuff, hadn't been there on time, and then he forgot an extra roll of film and ran out of space after like three pictures, so she just sent him back to the paper with what he had, begging him to hurry and see if he could get back with a new film roll to take actual shots of practice. Flint then hadn't allowed her in the changing rooms and didn't let anyone talk to her after practice, so she had no new sound for an entire story she was supposed to write for Sunday's edition. When she had tried to confirm that they would at least be able to talk next Monday or get a schedule from him, he blew her off and walked back inside the changing rooms, which he had locked behind him. Jake then showed up with a new roll of film.

To top it all off, it had started pouring rain before she got back inside, so she was soaked.

Marcus glanced up at her as she stormed into the room and headed straight for the staircase, doing a double take once he realized she was drenched to the bone.

"You need anything, Bry?" he called after her as she headed up the stairs.

"The Slytherin Quidditch captain's head on a plate," she shouted back, before slamming the door of her thankfully empty dorm and stripping down as she walked in to the attached bathroom.

After turning the shower on as hot as it could go, she stepped in and let the scorching hot water pound on her back, hopeful that it would release the tension she was holding in her shoulders. She stood there and soaked it all in for a minute, before letting out a frustrated noise. It was a stupid to let him get to her, but this was something she was supposed to be able to do and do well.

She scrubbed her body down under the still scalding water and squeezed the shampoo out of her hair before stepping out into the steamy bathroom. The girl glanced at the mirror across from her, but was grateful it was steamed over as she wrapped a towel around herself and padded back out into the dorm. She went straight to her closet, looking for a clean and dry outfit for the day.

"I hung your clothes from earlier up," a voice said from the other side of the room, making her jump slightly. Joan raised an eyebrow at her from the spot on her bed where she was flipping through her Charms textbook. "Just in case you were wondering."

"Thanks," she replied, sighing again as she pulled open the closet. Feeling a heavy gaze still on her, she turned around and caught Joan's eye. "What's up?"

"I feel like I should be asking you the same thing."

"I just can't stand Marcus Flint." Bryony grabbed one of Cedric's old Quidditch jerseys that was hanging up and a clean pair of jeans from her trunk before heading behind the screen to change.

"Right, Marcus mentioned something in the common room about you wanting a Quidditch captain's head on a plate, and I assumed it wasn't Cedric."

The brunette smiled slightly. "Normally a safe bet." Her roommate didn't say anything, so when Bryony walked out from behind the screen she went over and laid down on Joan's bed. "Thank you for asking, though."

"We just want to make sure you're okay," the American said, handing over a cherry-flavored Sugar Quill. "I think this is the third time I've seen you this week, and I doubt you've slept more than 20 hours total. It's just the first week."

"Trust me, I know." She nibbled on the end of the treat, settling deeper in to the bed. "Thankfully, I don't have patrol until next Saturday, I don't have to watch the paper for another two and a half weeks and this is my off week for captain interviews, since Henry will do both Captain's Corners. I'll just have the two practices to cover, that is if Flint even lets me, our study group and classes."

Warm brown eyes met electric blue for a moment, but Joan just shrugged. "If you're sure. Let us know if anything comes up and you need something."

"Of course." Bryony stood up and shook out her still damp hair before twisting the curls up in to a messy knot. "Thanks again for the Sugar Quill. I'll make it up to you on Thursday."

"Don't forget that Becky's birthday is this week, so we have to plan something for her."

The girl mentally cursed, closing her eyes for a moment. "Do you have time to plan tomorrow night?"

"We'll figure something out."

"I have to head to the newsroom and write this story with no actual sound in it, so wish me luck. If you guys need me, I'll be with Cedric after that." She slung her bag over her shoulder and waved on her way out, ignoring her roommate's teasing comments which hadn't stopped despite the years the couple had been dating.

Marcus gave her a questioning look as she headed back through the common room, but she just waved and continued her familiar path, trying to construct the story in her head before she actually got to her desk.

But even 20 minutes later, when she was actually sitting at her desk with her notes scattered around her, the story just wasn't coming.

Bryony groaned and let her head drop on to her desk, closing her eyes for a moment and taking in the buzz of the newsroom as they got ready to print their second edition.

"You seem like you're having the time of your life."

For the second time in less than an hour, the brunette practically jumped out of her skin in shock. She heard her executive editor's familiar laugh and let out the breath she had unknowingly been holding, and rubbed her forehead. "Craig, hi. I haven't had much of a chance to see you this year."

"No kidding," the seventh year Hufflepuff said, sliding in to Henry's chair across from her. "I remember O.W.L. year. At least I wasn't an editor at the time."

"But now you're taking your N.E.W.T.s and you're the head of the paper."

He shrugged slightly. "I'm taking less classes than I was in fifth year, plus this is my second year as exec. It calms down." Craig reached over and grabbed some of her notes. "But this is your first year as more than just a staff writer. I get that it's a lot to handle."

"I'm just still working on the whole sports thing." The words fell out of her mouth before she could stop them, making a light shade of pink dust her cheeks before she continued. "I tried over the summer to learn as much as I could, but it's an entirely different world than turning news stories."

"That's why we decided to pick you to do it," he said, not looking up from the notes. "I know you can write a damn good news story. We needed that strength and skill to transfer to a beat that, for the time being, we're still just testing out. It's a much bigger challenge for you than reporting on the fact that Sirius Black is still missing or that the Gobstones Club grew this year." The two made eye contact at that point, and he grinned. "I take it Flint was an absolute pillock?"

"Spot on."

"Well, because you don't have sound from practice, why don't you just make this story a brief? We already have your Gryffindor story plus the season schedule. If they aren't going to talk to us, we don't have to give them equal coverage."

"We don't?"

Craig smiled. "We gave them every chance to comment, and they declined. That's just as reportable as everything else from practice, or any soundbite you could have gotten. I'm not saying tear them apart, but if they're going to play this game, we can play it right back.

"Keep in mind, I won't let this fly for the entire season, but I also don't want to see you this stressed out this early on. Take a breath, grab some coffee and then turn the brief. Then I don't want to see you back here until Monday." He winked at her, passing her notes back before heading up to the assignment desk where Jamie and the other copy editor, Carrie, were both flipping through their own stacks of stories.

Bryony did get up to grab herself a cup of coffee they had from the set-up in the corner, blowing the steam away as she opened her multi-colored ink well and got to work. About 6 inches of parchment later, she dropped it in to the bin to be edited, waved to the editors and made her way out of the newsroom.

Glancing quickly at her watch, the brunette knew she had about half an hour before Cedric would wrap up his weekly library session, so she headed down to the kitchens and grabbed some of their favorite snacks. Instead of just walking out right away, she plopped down on one of the stools in the middle of the kitchen and pulled out her planner, glancing through the next week.

"Hey Danby," she called out, looking up and spotting the house-elf that normally helped her and Cedric when they would sneak in for a snack. "Could you help me with something?"

"Of course, miss. Is there another food we could get for you?"

"No, no, what you guys are doing is more than enough. I was just wondering; one of my friends is turning 16 this week, and we were planning on throwing her a party. Do you guys ever help with student parties?"

"Oh, yes miss!" he said, a smile growing on his face. "When the students get together on top of the Astronomy Tower around the break is our biggest event. We also have special requests, and are more than happy to help."

"There's a party on the Astronomy Tower every year?"

"Yes, miss. Only older students are allowed though, because we give them wine and Butterbeer, and even Firewhiskey," Danby giggled.

She blinked for a moment before scratching down a note to ask someone about that. "Well that's great! Actually, do you guys think you could handle having a group of students in here next weekend or something? There wouldn't be too many."

When the house-elf smiled at her, Bryony found herself grinning as well. "We would be so very happy to make that happen!"

"Great!" She scribbled in another note about the party before another house-elf she didn't recognize handed her the basket of snacks she had asked for. "Thank you guys so much for this, really, and thanks for your help, Danby!"

The house-elves all chimed in goodbyes to her as she made her way out the door, practically running in to Cedric who was on the other side of the painting.

"Hi!" they both said at the same time, making both of them laugh before he pressed a kiss to her forehead and grabbed the bag of snacks from her.

"Seems like we had pretty similar ideas," he said, taking a peek inside. "The common room should be pretty empty if you want to sneak in with me right now."

Bryony grinned and nodded, leaning up to press her lips against his for a moment. "That sounds amazing."

He grabbed her school bag as well, slinging that over his shoulder along with his own and carried the food in one hand, taking hers in the other as they meandered down the hallway to the stack of large barrels. He reached out and tapped the rhythm on the one in the middle of the second row, and gestured for her to climb in ahead of him.

While they hadn't done it often, the brunette had been in the Hufflepuff common room enough that the sixth year sitting by the fire just waved at her as she popped out of the passageway. Cedric stepped out a moment behind her, waving at his housemate before leading her up to his dorm.

The two settled in to his bed, Bryony's head settling in the perfect spot on his chest that they had practiced so many times. She had stayed with the Diggorys over the past few summers, not really having a home to go back to, and the two had snuck into each other's rooms enough that they knew how to fit together perfectly.

"What do you want to do for your birthday this year?" she asked after a few minutes. Cedric had pulled her hair down and was combing his fingers through it in a very distracting way.

"This."

"We can do this any time."

"Well then how about this?" he asked, pulling her face up to his to press his lips against hers deeply, in a way they tended not to while they were in the Hogwarts halls. She responded in kind, deepening the kiss when she rolled over and straddled his waist.

A short time later, after both had caught their breaths, she tried again.

"So about your birthday."

He laughed, pulling her closer and stroking her bare back. "I don't expect you to do anything, love."

"But it's your sixteenth birthday," she said, resting her chin on her hand. "We'll only celebrate it once. Plus I'm already planning Becky's for next week, and with yours in October, it at least gives me a little more time to put something together."

"But it's the the third of many, many birthdays I plan to celebrate with you." He pressed another kiss to her forehead. "All I really want is some time where we don't have to bother about Quidditch or the paper or prefect duties. I just want more of this."

She allowed her eyes to drift closed as his words settled over her, realizing just how peaceful it was to actually be in the moment with him. "I love you, Cedric Diggory."

"Love you, too."


End file.
